Megaphone.



H. MEREDITH-JONES.

MEGAPHONE.

APPLGATION FILED 06519, 1908.

n Ovom T R MA w ,D v nu vH'. ME-REDITH-JONES.

MBGAPHONE.

APPnIoATI'oN FILED 00T` s, 1908.

Patented Dec. 14, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES UNITED sTATEs PATENT orricE.

'HUBERT MEnEDITH-JONES, lor NEW YORK, N. Y., AssIGNoR or oNEHALF To cHAiuEs M. MAPES. or NEW YORK, N. Y.

MEGPHONE.

VSpecification of Letters Patent.

Y PatentedDec. ,14. 1909.

Application led October 9, 1908'. Serial No. 458,905.

To all 'whom'it may concern: Be 1t known that I, Ht'nlrr MEuEorrir- JONES, ofNew York, inthe coun-ty'of New York,` and inthe State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improve-- i a megaphone that .can be used to very great 'advantage in making announcements 1u' trains of cars where 'the guard is ordinarilyT statloned between the two adjacent plat- Aforms of two adjoining cars. It 1s usual m cars of this type which are used almost entirely in city traffic, for' the trains made up of such cars to carry very large crowds. It is also usual that in the operation of such cars, a very large volume of soundis pro-A duced. As a result, it is extremely difficult to make announcements with the unaided voice which can be heard to the centers of the cars. A feature which creates an added difficulty under these circumstances, lis the fact that the guard is usually separated from the body of the car by the vestibule thereof, and in case he makes an announcement from the place at which he. is ordinarilystationed,

car above the heads of the passengers and connected by means of a tube passing Y'through theyestibule of the car to a flexible hose having a transmitter located at its end. In order to avoid the repetition of announcements, I connect two such horns and tubes located at thevadjoining ends of adjacent cars with a single transmitter.

In the accompanymg drawings, yFlgure 1 represents a pair of adjoining cars partly 1n section. equipped with such a megaphone;

Fig. 2 is a. side elevation of the transmitter; and Fi ."3 is an end view ofthe same. In t e drawings are shown'two adjarentA cars, 1 connected in the ordinary manner bymeans of couplings 2 and carried upon trucks of the ordinary type 3. The guard is ordinarily` stationed, especially in' hours when the cars are crowdcth'upon the two adjoining platforms of the cai's l. Projecting from each partition whiclrseparates the vestibule of the car from the body there- Iof, and projected toward the interior of' the car, I locate a large horn'G inthe shape of an ordinary megaphone. .Each of these horns is attached to a tube .7 which passes through the vestibule S and curves downwardly on the outside of the gouter partition 9 of each car. The tubes at this point ,telescope with two short straight tubes` 10. each of which is attached to a lflexible tube l1 attached to a single transmitter 1.2. The horns 6 may, if desired, be located vfarther toward theV center of the car or may be.I located at the side or the middle'of'one end thereof.

In the operation of my device, a guard standing upon the platforms, 4 talks into the transmitter 12, and by making a single announcement, conveys' said announcement to. the interior of each of the'adjoiniugv cars byiuneans of the megaphones (i. Then it is desired to uncouple the ears,` the Singh transmitter 12 and its attached flexible tubes 11 can be detached from the tubes 7 at the telescoping points 10.

By using this device, it will be seen that it is not necessary for the guard to cross the vestibule of any one of the cars 'to make a?" announcement, but it is suflicient for himt) make a single announcement from his normal position between the platforms 4, which place he ordinarily operates the le.y vers to -open the doors of the car` to convey to the passengers in both cars the desired information. Furthermore, the annoumw ment'4 can thus be 'nia-d very much more effectively than without the use of the device, for the reason that the horns t# are located over the heads of the passengers and, therefore, the passengers do not by their presence interfere with the passage lof the sound to the center of the car. l

A further advantage of the use Aof this device is, that, fronithe well-known characteristics of megaphones, the sound will be very lnuch magnified and lwill thereforel be much more audible than in the casefof announcements made by the unaided' voice.

Because-of `the-presence of ,the two "detach-` able connections, l0, it will be'possible if so desired for each guard to be provided withliis own transmitter, so as to produce a more sanitary arrangement than in the case where diterent guards are compelled to use the same transmitter, inasmuch as it is Welllrnown that disease germs collect in transmitters of all types. Again, with this construction announcements can be made with the doors of 'the adjoining cars entirely closed., and as a result a Very much larger volume of effective sound is conveyed to the cars than would be the case were the doors open to permit the rattle and other extrano ous noises to enter. For the same reason, this construction prevents the frequent entry 4of cold drafts into the cars by repeated opening of the doors thereof. Finally, it will be possible by lusing. the megaphone constituting an embodiment of my invention, to malte announcements into `the interior of the cars, even in the presence of large crowds, such las frequently occur in city trattic, extending from the rear end of theV platforms of the cars to practically the center thereof. Under such conditions, it is at present impossible to malte an elfective announcement, for the reason that the guard cannot penetrate the crowd and reach the interior of the body of the car without great difficulty.

While I have described my invention above in detail, l wish it to'be understood that many changes might be made in the details thereof, and to apply it to vehicles the combination of two adjacent cars, a

megaphone in each car and a single trans- -mitter .connected to said megaphones and located on the outside of the ears.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination of two adjacent cars, a megaphone in each car and a single transmitter connected to said megaphones and located at the outer edge of one of the ears.

Ll. In a device of the character described, the combination of two ladjacent cars, a niegaphone in cach car and a single transmitteizcminected to said megaphones and located between said cars,

In testimony that I claim the foregoing l have hereunto set my hand.

'HUBERT MEREDITH JONES.

fitnesses M. MEIKLn, t'

Guo. Romina. Jr. 

